B3 – Chapter 23: Getting along

Tristan rode Onyx back to the Queen’s Wood. Oddly enough, his shoulders changed slightly, and he did not need a saddle as the perch was quite comfortable. And, it turned out, the slightly longer, thicker and more unkempt mane was because it provided more grip without harming them. After the swift return, Tristan headed over to the market area to find Felicity hard at work along with some other fairy dragons brewing up a storm.

“Oh, you’re back!” she said as he walked over with Onyx right behind. “Pretty black unicorn.”

“Thanks,” Onyx replied.

“Never seen one before but I heard them described. I was always told they were white,” Felicity added as she got up from the bench and handed a stirring spoon to another fairy dragon who was lazing next to her. “Your turn.”

The other fairy dragon groaned and grabbed the spoon, stirring the mix. Onyx whinnied in an approximation of a laugh. “You’ve been traveling with me and my mare. Midnight, you remember.”

Felicity looked between Onyx and Tristan, “Huh…did you change him?”

Tristan nodded, feeling quite proud of manifesting such changes to a living creature in the Realm, “Yes. He’s now a unicorn.” Tristan turned back to Onyx, “Go and ask for two more from the herd who are willing to travel in other Realms.”

Onyx dipped his head and trotted away as Tristan walked to Felicity and gave her fur a small brush with his fingers, “How’s the potion coming along?”

“Big batch, almost ready!” she replied with a smile. “Didn’t you need to make more healing and essence elixirs, too?”

“I did,” Tristan replied as he saw Bertram and Rory walking over. “Hey, you two. It’ll be about an hour for me to get those elixirs. And I’ve got us some mounts.”

Rory walked behind the bench and looked down at Felicity, “You’re smaller,” she stated.

Felicity grew in size, her body expanding until she had the bulk of a medium sized dog. “I can be bigger! It’s just easier to work with herbs when you don’t have big hands.” She blew a raspberry at the woman before shrinking down and flying over to perch on Tristan’s head, making her little paw-claw biscuits.

Bertram sighed and sat on a bench. “Those Nymphs…wow…they are wild, and drain your stamina.”

Tristan chuckled as he walked over to the herb bushes for the healing and essence elixirs, casting Perfect Harvest to ensure that he was getting the optimal yield of each substance. “Do tell,” Tristan called back to his brother as he collected up the herbs.

“Well,” Bertram replied as Rory went over and sat on the bench next to him, “First we got taken to a hot spring with all of these gorgeous women. Massages, all over the body.” He chuckled and wrapped an arm around Rory’s shoulder. “Then we had some fun. You don’t like talking about that stuff…given the way that lost conversation went. So suffice to say, we had a good time.”

Rory added, “It was tiring but worth it. Definitely a treat for every once in a while.”

Tristan got his haul of herbs and went to the work bench, beginning to prepare the mixtures, condensing down, and refining just as his grandfather had taught him. To his slight surprise, he heard Bertram walk up and snag a spare mortal and pestle and began grinding away at the herbs too. “Hand me that oil,” he muttered.

Tristan smiled and slid the small tray of oil-filled berries over, “Here you go.”

“That’s not oil,” Bertram replied.

Tristan grabbed one and popped it into his mortar, grinding it down as the substance mixed with the herbs. “I made the oil berry bushes.”

“Huh,” Bertram grabbed a few and popped them into the mortar and kept grinding away.

“I remember you used to just zone out during grandfather’s potion lessons.”

Bertram shrugged, “I was listening, just not watching. It’s not hard to grind stuff to a paste. And I just had to learn what each herb looked like, the proportions-” he glanced sideways as Tristan added more hensbane, “-too much there.”

“I can make supreme quality elixirs,” Tristan replied.

“No shit? Like the stuff that can heal you from the brink?”

Tristan nodded, “Mhmm.” He glanced up as Felicity’s tail dropped down in front of his face. “Felicity, you mind?”

“Hän tuijottaa minua. En usko, että hän pitää minusta.” (She is staring at me. I don’t think she likes me). She replied.

Tristan sighed, “En olettaisi niin. Tuskin tunnemme häntä.” (I wouldn’t assume that. We barely know her).

“She talking shit about me?” Rory asked.

Tristan turned back to look at the Drakonid woman, and shook his head. “No. Nothing like that. She just thinks you don’t like her.”

“Tristan!” Felicity slapped her tail against his face, leaving a slight welt. “You’re not supposed to tell her that I said that!”

Rory chuckled, “I’m just curious, is all. You’re not a person in the normal sense.”

Felicity grit her teeth and muttered, “I’m more of a woman than you are.”

“What was that?” Rory asked.

“Nothing!” Felicity replied. She flapped off Tristan’s head and shapeshifted into her Elfanoid form, and grew her feminine features to rival those of Rory. “See? I can be just as n-o-r-m-a-l of a person as you!”

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Rory chuckled, “You’re a funny thing.”

Tristan tried to push the woman’s conversation out of his head and focused on finishing up his preparations of the elixirs. He made a few brief comments to Bertram about mixing for the higher potency varieties.

“Lord Tristan, it’s ready,” the fairy dragon stirring the truth elixir stated.

Tristan walked over and cast Infuse Elixir, converting the substance with a silvery glow. “Bottle that up and take it to Dorothy.”

The fairy dragon saluted and began scooping doses with a ladle and placing them into small, clay containers that another fairy dragon tied off with a broad, flat leaf and some twine.

Bertram sighed, “I’d love to have my own group of servants like that.”

Tristan shrugged, “They serve the Fey Realm. Not just me.” He looked at his brother, “You should consider staying longer term.”

“Nothing to fight in here,” Bertram replied. “If grandfather is staying here – which he should, the man’s as old as dirt – then Rory and I can stay at the Citadel, and visit whenever we want.”